Consumers lament tough economic environment

Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) has bemoaned the tough economic environment in the just-ended year which was characterised by high cost of living.

In its assessment of the operating environment in 2022, Cama executive director John Kapito said consumers went through one of the highest cost of living periods due to government’s failure to provide essential items and resources to its citizenry.

He said: “2022 has been one of the worst years for consumers as we experienced price increases especially on food, which also saw us having little or depleted disposable incomes.

“The devaluation of the kwacha made matters worse by reducing the purchasing power of consumers. Consumers also witnessed the poorest supply of electricity and water where most industries and consumers were unable to access these vital basic services.”

Kapito also said high levels of corruption, especially by those in high offices, also affected social service delivery.

He has since urged authorities to come up with policies and quick strategies to put the economy back on track.

He said: “We look into 2023 with optimism and hope that our leaders will come up with realistic economic recovery policies to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2022.

“We appeal to our leaders to seriously consider putting in place realistic strategies on how we can turn around this economy for the good of the people.

Malawi experienced economic turbulence in the just-ended year, including fuel supply shortages owing to inadequate forex to purchase the commodity, inadequate power supply that put businesses at a standstill and forced others to raise prices of their commodities to remain afloat.

On the other hand, Malawi’s headline inflation has been on the rise, standing at 25.8 percent as of November, triggered by a rise in food and non-food prices.

National Statistical Office figures show that during the same period in 2021, inflation was recorded at 9.4 percent.

This means prices of goods and services during the period under review quickened compared to the same period in 2021.

Minister of Information and Digitilisation Gospel Kazako is on record as having said government plans to resolve the challenges and that it was unfortunate that some people do not seem to understand the gravity of the issues facing the country.